Instead of building our economy around extracting oil, gas, coal and minerals and cutting down our forests, we should turn B.C. into one of the great food-producing regions of the world.
Each year, locals dump millions of litres of drinking water and tonnes of petroleum-based fertilizers on their lawns.
They buy and maintain thousands of carbon-spewing, high-decibel machines to manicure their turf or hire others who drive hundreds of carbon-spewing trucks pulling trailers to do it for them. All this for a weed.
Stand back and look at this behaviour. Imagine yourself a resident of water-starved northern India or central California, where many no longer have water to their homes. You would think it ridiculous behaviour.
How about if we phase out lawns? We could start by banning the watering of residential grass and the use of gas-powered equipment. Those who want to stay the course would be required to use electric-powered equipment (65 decibels or less) on lawns that are never watered.
Then, we could re-train willing lawn-care professionals to grow food. We could have them rip up the lawns whose owners opt into the program, plant vegetables and fruit, and take care of these crops.
In addition, they could collect household organic waste and put it back into the soil; then we could get rid of the fleet of trucks that pick the stuff up at curbside.
Who is going to pay for all of this, you might ask? Let’s flip that around. Who is going to pay for the continued carbon footprint and climate change related to this industry?
One hour of operating a typical gas-powered lawn mower blows out emissions equivalent to running eight to 12 new cars for an hour. And what about the health costs? More than 6,000 Canadians a year die from air pollution, and lawn maintenance machines are big contributors. Who is going to pay when the Americans come looking for our fresh water, and sooner than you think?
Surely, people who can create an economy around cutting grass can do it again around growing more food.
My vision includes the landowner getting a percentage of the income from the food grown on her property, more if water and hydro are provided, and the hired farmer getting the rest. Perhaps there could be a co-operative food grid where landowners who grow their own can sell their surplus into the grid.
Many in the know have been warning of food shortages for years, and although we might not admit that we’re experiencing them here in Victoria, others around the world have. For example, one of the reasons for the present refugee crisis in Syria is the lack of food caused by a long drought.
If you look closer, I suggest that food shortages are hitting us locally and they’re taking the form of higher prices and food from farther away. Case in point, most oranges and many other fruits and vegetables in our local supermarkets are being imported from South Africa or Australia because the produce from water-starved California is either scarce or too pricey. How long do you think importing food from more than 16,000 kilometres away is going to last?
As the climate changes and Earth’s population grows, food shortages will only worsen. It makes sense that we should grow more food — wherever and whenever we can.
Let’s blanket the province with small farms that grow just about anything there’s a demand for, and cottage-style factories that turn out value-added foods.
Let’s use horses and electric vehicles at the growing site, and electric trains to move products to the public markets that will continue to pop up everywhere. And let’s start this revolution by growing food on the boulevards and in front- and backyards instead of grass.
Imagine the reduction in our carbon footprint. Imagine the drinking water saved for life. Imagine the local bounty for us to eat.
Imagine the peace and quiet.
Dave Secco is a Victoria resident who promotes sustainability.
